


Bucking Her Legacy

by afteriwake



Series: The Summer Of 100 Surprise Stories - Summer 2018 [23]
Category: Call the Midwife, Sherlock (TV)
Genre: 1950s, Alternate Universe - Historical, Aristocracy, Breaking The Rules, Crossover, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, F/M, Freedom, Friends to Lovers, Friendship/Love, London, Male-Female Friendship, Molly Is Aristocracy, Moran Is A Gardener, Nonnatus House, Poplar District, Post-World War II, Pre-Molly Hooper/Sebastian Moran, Pre-Series Sister Evangelina, Pre-Series Sister Julienne, Running Away, Swimming, Underage Smoking, defying expectations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-15
Updated: 2019-02-15
Packaged: 2019-05-21 05:45:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 4,707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14909477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: Margaret Hooper does not want the quiet, dutiful life expected of her. She wants more, and when a chance comes to run away with the gardener, she takes hold of it with both hands.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Dreamin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dreamin/gifts).



> So ages ago, **LadyEmmalineWrites1812** sent me the prompt " _Molly/Moran, Bubble Gum_ " for a drabble. Last night I combined it with " _CRÈME DE LA CRÈME - (n.) the very best._ " and started this fic.

“A young lady would never do something as crass as chew gum, let alone pop it with such a crack.”

Molly resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Here she was, the daughter of a Lord, getting etiquette lessons, and all she wanted to do was leave. Run far far away. This was such a stifling life, it really was. And she was about to debut to the rest of society and bugger it all, there was no point! It was a modern day, a modern age. The aristocracy could stuff itself.

She elected to simply sigh and look out the window. There was a gardener who had the most exquisite build, with a shock of ginger hair and a piercing gaze. But it wasn’t a bad sort of gaze, not really, more like he saw the truth in things. Maybe he saw the truth in her, that she wanted...more. She wanted a life that was free, like the birds she admired in the sky flying to God knew where.

He was there, working on the hedges with a vest on, and she licked her lips. He had a broad back and nice muscular arms. Her sisters, if they weren’t married off, would have tried to seduce him. Somehow, though, she had the feeling Sebastian wouldn’t have given them the time of day.

Not like he did her.

She never treated him like the downstairs staff, though that was what he was. She treated all of the “downstairs riff-raff” with kindness because they worked hard. She took after her father in that regard, she supposed. He was fairer than most, even though their fortunes had turned and they’d had to lay off staff after the war. He gave them all something for severance, good recommendations and enough to make sure their families didn’t starve for at least a time from their own stores of food.

She just hoped if they lost more staff Sebastian wouldn’t leave. Who else would she talk to about philosophy and science and all the things girls weren’t supposed to be interested in? Her sisters may have wanted the empty life of heiresses but she? She wanted more.

As if he knew she was thinking about him, Seb looked up to the window she was sitting at and then winked. She smiled at him but didn’t wave, not wanting to risk her tutor’s attention to her lack of attention. Seb moved his hand up and down in the motion of a wave, and she nodded to let him know she’d seen him. Tonight, swimming lessons again. Good.

“Margaret!” 

She jumped in her seat and turned back to her tutor. Tonight there would be fun. For now? Pure, unadulterated boredom.


	2. Chapter 2

She didn’t really need lessons at this point, but the midnight swims at the lake on her property were quite amusing. She could float, and swim breaststroke and many other ways as well. Seb was a good teacher, he was, and while many other boys may have tried a bit of hanky-panky, he didn’t, and she liked that about him. Yeah, he was attractive and all, but he was somewhat of a gentleman, and that was the only reason she knew her father allowed these lessons. Not officially, of course, but she knew he was aware she dashed out of the manor at least once a week and came back in sopping wet.

If Seb truly was one of those “bad boy” types her father would have put his foot down, and they both knew it.

But tonight, as they both lay on the shore of the lake, looking up at the sky, she wondered why he never tried anything. They weren’t that far apart in age; she was sixteen and he was only three years older. Looked even older than that, like a man of one and twenty, but she knew he wasn’t that old. He’d enlisted in the war at a young age, younger than should have been proper, and he mentioned he had seen things no child should have seen.

She had seen things no child should have seen, too, when the family manor had become a care station for wounded soldiers. She’d heard them die in the night, she’d cared for wounds and run supplies back and forth to all the different rooms, but she had the feeling the things he had seen were nothing in comparison.

She rolled onto her stomach, laying her arms under her head and turning to look at him. “Would you rescue me tomorrow? I have French lessons.”

Seb huffed a laugh and turned his head, giving her a smile. “You speak French so badly you need the lessons,” he replied. She moved a hand and smacked his arm. “How are you going to be a proper young lady if you don’t do the things you’re supposed to?”

“I don’t want to be a proper young lady,” she said, making a face. “I want to be a doctor.”

“Doctors still need to know French. It’s part of the crap they teach in universities. You don’t know it, you can’t get into a university.”

“I bet I could in the States,” she countered.

“Why would you want to go there? There are better places.” He sat up then, got a cigarette from his stash he brought with him and lit one, taking a long drag. “There’s a whole world to explore.”

“Then take me exploring.”

He turned to her, tilting his head. “You want to run off with the gardener? Your family would never forgive you. At least your mum wouldn’t.”

“Like they matter.” She reached over and snatched the cigarette out of his hands, taking a puff before he reached for it back. She wasn’t ready to give it to him just yet, and they got into a slight wrestling match over the cigarette. Rather than give it to him, she tossed it into the lake before he pinned her to the ground, one wrist in each arm. “I’ll get you one of my sisters.”

“They’re low tar,” he said, loosening his grip but not letting go. The both of them were breathing heavy, and in a moment he eased up, and Molly turned the tables so she was straddling him and looking down, pinning his wrists to the ground.

“Fine. One of Dad’s.”

“Better,” he said. “You keep this up, you’ll be able to get out of any predicament your wild ways get you into, lass.”

She laughed and then let go of his wrists, collapsing on his chest. He wrapped his arms around her. “This is better than one of those cliché kisses that come out of a moment like that,”

“You just haven’t had the right kiss yet,” he said. “And don’t be asking me for one, I know my place.”

“But embraces are alright?” she asked, resting her chin on his chest. “Because I feel safe like this.”

“They’re fine,” he said. “As long as you don’t expect more. But I promise, Mollykins, I’ll always keep you safe, as long as I’m around. You can count on it.”

She nodded and then turned her head so her ear was over his heart. She did feel safe in his arms, safe out in the open with him. And she loved him and lusted after him but no matter what, she knew her place as well as he did. They could be friends. They could be close friends.

But nothing more.


	3. Chapter 3

“You shouldn’t fraternize with the help.”

Molly sighed as her mother came up behind her. The relationship between herself and Phryne Hooper was...well, strained, to say the least. Molly had much more modern ideas about quite a few things, while her mum seemed to be stuck in the era from before World War I, when she had been a teenager. Molly had thought perhaps with time she would have become more modern, but apparently, no matter how long Phryne was alive she was going to yearn for the good days.

Days which her youngest daughter really wanted no part of.

If her mother had her way, Molly and her sisters would have had arranged marriages. Molly may have been sent off to a reformatory school for all she knew, as she was considered the black sheep of the family with her modern attitudes. It was nearly fifty years into a new century. They should all acclimate and grow.

But no. Her mother and sisters were content to live in the blissful past, not that the past had really been all that blissful with the war.

“Seb is my friend,” she said. “It’s not like you let me talk with anyone else, anyway. I’m a prisoner at the manor and only allowed out with Dad.”

“He’s your father and you shall refer to him as such,” Phryne said in her clipped tone that Molly despised so much. “None of this _slang_.”

“It’s not...” she let herself trail off. “Fine. _Father_ is the only one who takes me anywhere or allows me even the slightest freedom. Take away what few freedoms I have and if you think I’m bad now, I could get worse.” She turned to look at her mother, who was staring at her with pursed lips and sighed. “Mother...there’s more to life than a duty to the family name. I know things have been heard, but I want to go into medicine. Women can do that now!”

“Not Hooper women,” she replied with a sniff. “No more late night liaisons with the gardener. Understood?”

Molly raised her chin up and gave her mother her iciest glare. “Yes, Mother.” All she got back was iciness in her mother’s eyes to match, and it was all she could do to hold herself together until her mother had left the room. Her mother had said no late night liaisons, which meant no more swimming.

But seeing Seb during the day…

She quickly headed towards his quarters, built away from the downstairs servants' entrance, a small building built during the great war for communications that her father’s father had turned into the gardener’s shed and quarters afterward. She made it to the door before the tears started to fall and pounded on it with all the strengths her small hands could muster. Seb opened it after a moment, bare to the waist and she threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around his bare waist. “Mollykins?”

“Mummy hates you. Hates our friendship,” she choked out. After a moment she felt arms wrap around her and she felt safe and secure and most of all loved. No matter what type of relationship she might ever have with Seb, he cared. She needed that more than ever now. “I can’t spend time with you at night anymore.”

“But here you are,” he murmured. 

“I hate her!”

“No, you don’t,” he said, his voice soothing her. “You hate the situation she’s put you in, and there’s a difference.” He rubbed her back for a moment. “Come in and have some tea, and when you feel more in control go back to the main house and do as she tells you until you can talk to your father.”

She nodded against his chest and then pulled away, wiping her eyes. It was one of the times where she truly felt her age, helpless as a child, and she was glad he was there to talk sense into her. Even if her mother couldn’t see it, he was a good influence on her, and one day she’d be able to prove it.


	4. Chapter 4

She and Seb had talked late into the afternoon, but not so late that it was dark when she returned to the manor house. She had to be careful; as much as her father seemed to like Sebastian her mother had sway, and if she angered her mum too much she might ask for him to be sacked without references and then she would be alone and at her mother’s mercy to mold into the perfect young woman to be worthy of the Hooper name.

If she had her way she’d just run away. When she turned twenty there was a bequest left to her that her parents couldn’t touch at ten thousand pounds a year, left to her by an eccentric aunt who must have seen something in her that she decided to nurture. Her sisters had bequests as well, though for significantly smaller sums, and all the had to do was keep her sanity and her freedom, so much as she was able until she was twenty.

Then, perhaps, she could be free.

She made her way to her room only to have her way blocked by the sister just older than her, Mildred. Of all her sisters, Mildred was the only one still at the ancestral home; Maureen and Millicent had both been married off and lived with their husbands elsewhere. She didn’t mind Mildred, as she was a rather homely girl who was the perfect epitome of what her mother wanted but had a kindness towards Molly. She appreciated that, as her eldest sisters didn’t treat her too kindly for being the apple of their father’s eye.

Mildred pulled her into her room and shut the door behind her. “Do you want your freedom with the gardener?”

Molly looked at her sister with confusion on her face. “Why? What do you mean?”

“Mother is having him sacked tomorrow, in front of the household staff, and being turned away with no references. She was upset that you went to him as soon as you two had your tiff, and she told Father that he had his way with her. That sniveling bastard Charles said he heard the sounds of you two...” Her sister turned red as she waved her hands. “But that’s not true, is it?”

“Absolutely not! He offered me tea and we _talked_ , that’s all.” Molly felt tears threaten her all over again. Her mother had gone too far this time. To be turned away without a reference was one thing; to say there was a dalliance with the daughter of the Lord and Lady… “What am I to do?”

Mildred went to a spot on the floor and pulled up a floorboard, reaching in and pulling out a small bag. “Father has given me money for the things he considered ‘frivolities.’ I was going to use it to run away but...I can tolerate Mummy and her old-fashioned rules. You’ll break before you bend and I don’t want to see that. Run away with the gardener tonight and don’t look back.” She pressed the bag into Molly’s hands. “Just be happy, that’s all I ask.”

“But...” Molly was stunned. She opened the small bag and saw at least a thousand pounds. “Mildred! Oh, come with us if you can. I can’t...this is too much for just us.”

“Are...are you sure?” Mildred asked, her eyes wide. Molly nodded. “Let me get some things. Go back and then we’ll go to the gardener together.”

Molly nodded and took the money back to her room. She quickly packed only clothing and a few photographs, as well as two of her cherished books and a doll that had belonged to the aunt who had gifted her the money. Who knew what the future held, after all? There may be a daughter in her future to give it to.

She saw Mildred in the hall and they both quietly left the manor house, going to Seb’s quarters. He was already outside, a military issue bag slung over his shoulder, and he looked at them in surprise. Both of them gasped as they saw the purpling at the edge of his eye. “Seb!” Molly said, going to him.

“I’m leaving,” he said, embracing her. “I take it you’re both joining me?”

Mildred nodded. “If you don’t mind the company...”

“Sebastian,” he said. Mildred nodded. “Your mother is a screaming banshee. If it’s like that at the manor house, I’ll gladly take you both wherever you want to go. I have my own vehicle.”

“You do?” Molly asked.

He nodded. “Your father had given me an automobile to work on as thanks. It runs, it has petrol. We can get as far as London, I think.”

“I think London will be far enough,” Mildred said. “We can decide what to do from there.” 

Seb nodded, and then reached over for Molly’s hand. “I’ll keep you both safe, I promise,” he said, squeezing her hand. Molly squeezed back, acknowledging his promise, and then the three of them set off to the garage to begin the first stage towards their new lives.


	5. Chapter 5

Mildred seemed to have inherited their father’s prudish business sense, something that was good when they got to London late that evening. She must have been planning to leave for some time because there was already a flat lined up for her that there was enough room for both Molly and Sebastian as well. It was bare of food, but there were two beds and quilts and sheets for them to use. Nothing as luxurious as home, but she doubted she would ever find anything like that during this experience.

And that was fine; they were buried deep enough in London that she doubted her parents would know where to look, even if they were willing. Her father might, but she thought her mother would bid them good riddance. It was hard to realize that her mother felt that way towards them and that she was so cruel as to take every aspect of both her and Mildred’s lives and control it to the extent that leaving in the dead of night was the only solution. Even if they were found, she knew she could never go back.

They got some sleep, though not much as they stayed awake to make plans, and in the morning they decided to try and find employment. Or rather Mildred and Seb would; she was to try and continue her education as best she could. Having had private tutors her entire life made it harder, but as Margaret surmised, in the meantime, there had to be a library somewhere.

The first day in London was spent alone in the flat. She ventured out a bit, taking some of the money they had to go get food as Seb had suggested, and to familiarize herself with the neighborhood. They were still debating how to describe their situation if the neighbours had any questions as to who they were and where they had come from, but the food was a priority and she’d just stick to as many simple facts as possible.

There was a friendly faced woman at the market and she gave Margaret a wide smile as she approached. “You must be the new tenant at the end of the street! What do you need, dear?”

Margaret smiled back and looked at the list Mildred had given her, reading off each item as the woman got them. The woman packaged them up for her and then slipped in a few sweets as well and handed her the package. “You look like you could use a treat. I think there’s enough for your brother and sister as well.”

Margaret relaxed. “They’ll like them, thank you.”

“I’m Norma. Most call me Mrs. Hampton here, but Norma is fine as well. I know it bucks tradition but, well, some things should be changed.” She winked at Margaret. “I have a bulletin board in the back where people needing help can post notices. Tell your brother and sister to come to look and in the meantime...” She reached under the counter and pulled out a book. “I take it you’re a reader.”

“I am, though not as much as Mildred, my sister,” Molly said, taking the book. “She’ll appreciate it.”

“Always good to have a few books around. When you are her is done with this one, bring it back and we’ll see about getting another. The library is under repair so I’m running a neighborhood library of sorts.”

Margaret was quiet for a moment. “Do you have books about medicine? Science? Things like that?”

“I can get some for you if that’s where your interest lies.” Norma tilted her head. “You know, Nonnatus House...if you’re interested in midwifery, it’s a start. I’m sure the nuns could help with getting you into nursing when you’re of age, and train you in some aspects in the meantime.”

Margaret felt a spark of hope. “Really?”

“And in the meantime, I’ll see what I can do about those books.” She waved her to the door. “Read that one first, though.”

“Thank you, ma’am,” Margaret said. She turned and took her package and the book and headed back to the flat to find Seb there. “I got the food, and a book.”

“So I see you met Norma,” he said with a grin. “There is a mechanic shop hereabouts and I’m being taken on on a trial basis. I start officially tomorrow, so I thought I’d come back and see what I could do to fix things up.”

“You can help me make supper,” she said. “I got everything Mildred said to get. I think we can make vegetable stew and I can bake bread.”

“It looks as though some of those lessons rubbed off on you,” Seb teased, and she stuck her tongue out at him. He chuckled and they got to work starting to prepare supper for the three of them. Mildred came back as it got dark and they ate in bursts of conversation about the various opportunities they had encountered and Seb’s offer of employment and the idea of Margaret learning midwifery. 

Seb went to sleep in the second bed and Margaret and Mildred slept in the other one, sharing it as it was just big enough for the two of them. His soft snoring was lulling to Margaret, and she turned to her sister, on the verge of sleep. “Do you think we’ll be alright?”

“I think, if this typist school works for me, we should be just fine,” Mildred said, pressing a kiss to her sister’s forehead. “We just need luck on our side a little. Tomorrow, go to Nonnatus house. See if luck is on your side.” Margaret nodded, drifting off to sleep, for the first time in an age feeling as though a weight had been lifted off her chest and shoulders and this small taste of freedom could lead to so much more.


	6. Chapter 6

It didn’t take long the next day for her to find Nonnatus House. Most people in the area knew of it and the order that ran it and made use of at least one or more of the services they offered. She had been surprised to learn there were so many pregnant women in the district and so many who were so young, almost as young as she was. It was a sobering fact that she had had a very sheltered life up until now.

There was a nun outside the door when she approached. She had a rather gruff expression on her face, and she was trying to organize things on the back of the bicycle she was standing in front of. “Excuse me, Sister. Is this Nonnatus House?”

“Yes,” she said, her voice almost as gruff as the look on her face. Some of the things slipped off the back of the bicycle and she shut her eyes, taking a deep breath. “If you need midwifery help, you need to go to the clinic first.”

“No, no, it’s...I want to be a midwife. Well,m a nurse. Maybe eventually a doctor. But I need...help.”

The woman opened her eyes and then looked her up and down with a curious look. “You’re fourteen? Fifteen?”

“Fifteen,” she confirmed.

“You look a bit...upper class,” she said with a slight speculative gaze.”

“My father was in the aristocracy,” she said, deciding to admit the truth. “When I was young our manor house was used to help during the war. I was very young but I helped wherever and however I could. That’s why I want to be a doctor. I want to do more.”

The nun sniffed slightly. “Midwives and nurses do quite a bit, thank you.”

“I didn’t mean to--”

“Sister Evangelina is very proud of what she does and those who help us,” a woman’s kind voice said from the stairs nearby. Sister Evangelina and Margaret turned to look at her. “She meant no offense. We need doctors just as much as the world needs us.”

“I know,” Sister Evangelina said. “I have to be off, but this bicycle is not cooperating and I’m about to lose the last of my God-given patience.”

“Well, I’ll take young...” The other woman turned to Margaret.

“Margaret,” she said, giving her name.

“I’ll take young Margaret inside and we may speak there and leave you to keep the last of your patience.” The woman smiled and Margaret and beckoned that they go inside. Margaret followed her in. “My name is Sister Julienne. Mrs. Hampton said there was a young woman looking to be a doctor who had just come to the area. I was expecting you.”

“Really?” Margaret asked.

“Well, I have some options for what we can do but first, I must ask a question. Do you have a place to stay?”

Margaret nodded. “I’m staying with my siblings.” Then she thought better of it. Best to be truthful now and not regret it later. “My sister and the gardner from our estate, actually. We left because we just...can’t stay there.”

Sister Julienne nodded. “Does he rent the flat?”

Molly shook her head. “My sister had arranged for quite a bit before we left. I think she had planned on having more, but we ended up needing to leave right away.” She paused. “He isn’t...I mean, he’s not...”

Sister Julienne gave her a soft smile. “If it would be agreeable with your sister, if you choose to train here, I’d like you to stay here at Nonnatus House. I will keep the secret of your sister and the young man until he can find lodgings of his own and the truth can come out.”

“Thank you,” Margaret said gratefully. “What can I do here?”

“Well, I overheard you have some experience with medical care, but you’re a bit too young for more formal training. That doesn’t mean you can’t learn without practical practice. We could use someone here to help Fred and Peggy with things, as maintaining Nonnatus House is more of an undertaking than either of them can do on their own. And in the meantime, we’ll continue your formal education and then work on midwifery and nurse training. Does that sound acceptable?”

“It does,” Margaret said with a nod.

“If your situation is as dire at home as I think it was, I will request permission from your sister for you to begin working here and to live here as well instead of your parents. Is she of age?”

“She is.”

“Splendid. I’ll go back to your home with her and she and I can speak to each other.” Sister Julienne tilted her head slightly. “Do you know how to ride a bicycle?”

“I do.”

“Then that will be in your favour,” Sister Julienne said. “Come. Let’s go back to where you live and begin to make arrangements.”

“Will I be able to see Mildred and Sebastian?”

“Of course, though if your young gardener is as old as I suppose he is, I may request the visits be supervised for propriety’s sake. If he is a gardener by trade, perhaps he can help here and you may see him then.”

Margaret nodded. This was an amazing opportunity and while having to have visits with Seb be chaperoned was a disappointment, she wanted to grasp this opportunity with both hands. Her legacy was supposed to be something else, but she had the chance to mold it into what she wanted, bucking that legacy entirely, and she would do whatever she could to grasp this new life with both hands.


End file.
